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''"The closer you get to the light, the darker your shadow becomes" - Carl Jung'' = The Saga of Ethergaard has yet to be writ...the pages of history open before you, stain them with the ink and blood that comes with the cosmic struggle! Chapter One: Welcome to the Bazaar [[Azrael]] awakens in his opulent house on the western flank of the [[Ethergaarde#D. Exalted Estates|Exalted Estates]] district. His parents and siblings, having toiled in the underdark and worked their way to establishing him here, have entrusted Azrael to gather intelligence on the surface city of Ethergaard and become part of the community. On a dim autumn day, Azrael seeks out a high elf geologist working at Myrla's gems named [[Kolvar]]. The two hit it off, and he learns of a conspiracy theory that the days will get shorter, that the sun is dying out. Kolvar distrusts the idea, stating that the alarmist halfling population is likely spreading it as a way to destabilize the high elf population that has been able to make it on the surface. Azrael gets the other side of the story in the [[Ethergaarde#B. The Bazaar|Bazaar district]], at the Yondalla caravan with [[Uneni and Panzor|Panzor and Uneni]]. Apparently, Ethergaard has initiated daylight savings time to no effect, and the halflings believe Yondallan high priest words that the Windswept Coast will pay for the bloody wars fought on its soil by an apocalyptic event known as "[[Nightfall]]". As Azrael loosens up and reveals his shadow elf face (picking up a disguise kit in exchange for the information), screams erupt from the nearby Whitebull General Goods, a clustered, mazelike business where a man named [[Sigmund]] is being pursued by two [[Etherknights]] and four Ethergaards. Azrael magically leaps through a window, and uses spells to distract the guards, allowing Sigmund to slip out of their grasp. Attempting to vault toward Azrael, Sigmund slips right through the wall, falling into an unseen space. Azrael creates warlock illusions to distract the guards and runs to the wall himself, finding himself plunging through a liquid like portal into a free fall, emerging into a distorted version of Whitebull General Goods in the shadow plane. Here, everything is cold and shifting in shadow. He uncovers a letter in a bundle of rags from a someone name Videric [[Hearst Family|Hearst]], as well as a cryptic verse. Apparently, Hearst was sent to this "prison" by the "[[Paradiso Family|Paradiso]]" family. He says he lost a key in flight and is in hiding, but wants to alert any potential family members who are also imprisoned. Azrael pockets the letters, explores the labyrinth, finding an odd floating ball of negative energy. Winding through the halls, Azrael is greviously wounded by a skeletal archer, who he eldritch blasts and destroys. He uses the negative energy ball on a shadow door and finds himself back at the entrance, where he rests. Chapter Two: Saving Sigmund After a short rest, Azrael continues through the shadowplane. He defeats a group of shadow rats, then tries to hide in a room filled with the bones of others that came before. He is interrupted while nursing his wounds by two shambling corpses, starting a chase through the labyrinth. Eventually, he destroys the zombies but not before alerting some type of fiend in the maze. Something huge is thumping through these cold corridors. After locating a safe room, Azrael hears a pained cry and hurries to the rescue of [[Sigmund]], who is being attacked by two shadows who are bashing him and sapping his strength. At this point, Azrael is exhausted, and Sigmund is hurt. They locate a strange room with a stove, a sconce, and a metal box on the wall with bars and keyholes and a pulley system leading into an unseen room. Azrael recommends that the lithe Sigmund climb onto the rope, which rings a large bell in the unseen room. Thump. They have alerted the beast. Chapter Three: The Proposition Freezing and even more tired than before, [[Sigmund]] and Azrael dash through the dungeon halls. Azrael turns around to hide just as Sigmund comes into view with the dungeon's guardian: [[The White Bull]]. A minotaur skeleton charges down the hallway, spars with Sigmund and forces the duo into close quarter combat. In and out of consciousness, the two duel until they are defeated. Sigmund stabilizes, administering his last two potions to himself and to Azrael. Then, the two play more cat and mouse, running from but finally corning the bull in a hallway, destroying him with crossbow bolts and magic energy. After this, the two explore and find more Umbra, shadow energy that allows secret doors to open. They investigate the throne room and grotto, and find the man resembling Videric Hearst hanged on a cliffside. They nearly exit the dungeon before running into what appears to be a trap. They double back, reading over notes. An awful realization dawns: Sigmund himself is from the Hearst family. But what is the meaning of this? Why did he end up here? The two decide to approach the hanged Videric and the corpse springs to life, using the rope around its neck to try to snare the two adventurers who are near death. They run and fire at the corpse, finally destroying him. In his possession is an apology for not making it, an assurance that other family members will be hunted. Azrael discovers a faint code on the paper but isn't certain what to do with it. They also find a black mask that Azrael puts on. After surviving a poison dart trap, they push onto the exit: a horrific nightmare zone. Here is the drow lich [[Valxun]], a horrific, flying mage infused with blue energy, floating above a tentacle with spikes and an eye in it, guarding shadowy images of the other Hearst family members enduring eternal torment. Ahead of Azrael is the shadowgate back to the material plane. Valxun, in an otherworldly voice, puts forth a proposition that stops the shadow elf in his tracks: give Sigmund over to receive the punishment "[[Hearst Family|befitting the Hearst family]]" and receive safe passage and navigation to the underdark routes underneath Ethergaard that could put him in good strategic position for the rest of the campaign. The lich answers his inquest regarding the [[Paradiso Family|Paradisos]], saying they have been "dead for over a century". Azrael considers the words of both Sigmund and Valxun, stuck with what feels like an impossible choice for the fledgling assassin. Chapter Four: